TUESDAY, JULY 5 — IMPORTANT MEETING – Call and Email This Week — And BE THERE!

The Pennington County Commission will be considering a Hard Rock Mining Ordinance on Tuesday, July 5 at 9:00 AM at the Commission Chambers at 130 Kansas City Street, Rapid City.

It is critical that EVERYONE getting this message spend a few minutes this week calling and/or emailing the Commissioners — and that a lot of people show up for the Commission meeting — and say that they are IN FAVOR of the ordinance!

Take Action This Week!

A fairly current version of the Ordinance: http://docs.pennco.org/docs/PZ/ORD22-01.pdf

The Hard Rock Mining Ordinance would be extremely important for protection of Pennington County’s water, landscapes, and agriculture/tourism economy. It would give the County a say when companies want to mine. So your email or call or testimony should start and end by saying you are IN FAVOR of the Ordinance.

If you have time to add other information, say that you also support making the Hard Rock Mining Ordinance stronger — here are some ideas :

• Water protection should be first priority, and surface and ground water protection at all stages of a project should be in the ordinance
  Pegmatite minerals (like lithium, which is under exploration in the southern part of the county) are hard rock minerals and should be included in this Ordinance
• Social and economic issues should be added back into the ordinance
• Residents should be protected from mining operations. The distances for giving people notice, the distance from residences to a mine, and the distance from residences to blasting should be increased
• The Hard Rock Mining Ordinance should protect the County from the impacts of exploration, not just mining.

Commissioners’ names are Gary Drewes, Lloyd LaCroix, Deb Hadcock, Travis Lasseter and Ron Rossknecht (Contact emails and phone numbers below).
Commissioners’ Office Phone Number: 605-394-2171
Commissioners’ email address: Contact Us – Pennington County, South Dakota 

Board of Commissioners – Pennington County, South Dakota

Gary Drewes, Chair
605-940-1120
gary.drewes@gmail.com

Lloyd LaCroix, Vice Chair
605-545-4269

Deb Hadcock
605-389-0395
debdistrict3@vastbb.net
Travis Lasseter
605-391-0416
travis.lasseter@pennco.org

Ron Rossknecht
605-391-1162

A fairly current version of the Ordinance:
http://docs.pennco.org/docs/PZ/ORD22-01.pdf